Crimson Dawn :: First Sight ::
by Sentrovasi
Summary: [Based on MapleSEA and a little GMS] After the defeat of the Crimson Unity, a new faction, the Crimson Tide, rose to avenge its comrades. Fast forward 300 years into the future, Maplers live in fear. Can eight Children of Fate defeat the darkness? Part 1.
1. The Story Begins

Oh oh oh. Mustn't forget the Disclaimer. Okay. Firstly I do not own MapleStory. No part of it do I own. On a side disclaimer I don't even like MapleStory. I ma not a fan of it. Mostly because of the in-game community. And also a third disclaimer. Not all these writings are by me. Kinda obvious from the titles but it must be said, of course. Each of us has different writing styles and don't worry if you get confused. So do we.

So… end of disclaimer and all.

My Chapter – The Story Begins

It was in an era long after Maple. The land was once thriving, a vast, beautiful country; but it had never been the same since the Night of the Crimson Tide.

They lived like fugitives; never daring to leave the sanctity of the Sanctuary for long; not even to forage for food. In the night, they felt the presence of the Balrog from every shadow; they longed for the light of day.

But it never came.

He looked around at this, his home for the rest of eternity. He had been here for well over three hundred years already, yet he still looked the same as he always had. He was, after all, in the Sanctuary. He remembered the past, unlike the younger children he had carried off with him that Night. He might not have ever aged, but he could not forget; and that weariness left him feeling older than he would ever be.

It had been a cold night. A dark night.

He remembered thinking about that even while the Festival had been going on outside. He remembered the indignance he had felt when he realized that he was to be babysitter to all the children while his peers went off to have a good time. He remembered his treetop home in Ellinia now, and remembering made him hurt. He remembered watching the celebrations at the Forest North of Ellinia from his home in the trees, wishing he could be down there to join in the fun.

But most of all, he remembered how dark and cold it had been.

All over Maple and Victoria Islands, and Ossyria as well, they had been celebrating the defeat of the Crimson Unity. His father, one of the major fighters in the decisive battle, was there to open the ceremony.

_It was dark._

He watched as they played their games, and sang their songs.  
He knew, of course, that someone had to take care of the children.  
But why did that someone have to be him?  
He softly cursed, and stepped away from the window.

He didn't know how long he slept, but he was awake before his head left the pillow.  
Someone had screamed.  
The night air froze him almost to the bone. He threw on his plerobe, and rushed out of the door, wand in hand.

"Whaa--?"

The scene that greeted him outside froze him to the bone.

It was a Crimson Balrog.

Nearly five times his size, it exuded an aura of evil; its ragged breath asphyxiating him completely with its smell of rot and decay. Before he could react, the Balrog had swept him into the air with a wave of a massive paw.

"What have we got here...?"

Afraid, but unwilling to give in, he concentrated; calming his mind.

Cleansing Fire

Immediately, his body erupted into a mass of flame. Howling in fury, the Balrog released its grip on him.

"What manner of white sorcery was that!"

He fell to the floor, exhausted. Casting that single spell had taken it out of him. He had nothing left. The Balrog smiled.

"So... you're just a weakling mage after all..."

He stepped forward to deal the killing blow... and erupted into a mass of flame. His death scream was terrible to hear, but the boy lying on the ground hardly noticed it. Behind where the Balrog had been stood an old wizened man dressed in a white robe. He looked down at the boy lying on the ground, his face calm, but his voice urgent.

"My son... you have got to get up!"

The boy moaned; he tried, but could not move.

Heal

The old man focused all his energy into releasing a wave of pure light. Slowly, his son's wounds disappeared. But now it was he who was completely exhausted.

"You have to leave... my son. The Crimson Unity... It was... destroyed... but... we never anticipated that another; more powerful force might... rise to take its place... The Crimson Tide...  
"Get the children here at once. You have to leave."

He helped his father into the house, and, setting him down, hurriedly woke all the children at once. When they were all awake, he turned to see his father ready with a teleportation gate.

"This will take you somewhere safe. When I have dealt with the trouble here, I will come and find you."

He turned as he heard a loud noise issuing from the oak door.

"They're coming! Quick; into the portal!"

He pushed the children into the portal, in ones and threes, and as fast as he could.

The door shook again. A splintering of the wood this time. One more hit, and they would be through.

His son stood, frozen with indecision.

"Dammit, get in!" The old man turned the other way and cast a Magic Guard on the door. It glowed blue as he channeled his magic power into it.

"Leave now! I will get you myself when I'm done with them! Just leave!"

Another slam, but the door held. The boy rose to help his father as the old man staggered.

"Father..."

"You will not disobey me, son. I've raised you too long for you to die today. Now leave!"

The portal shimmered. Without his support, it would close in another minute or two.  
The boy looked into his father's eyes once more.

He stepped into the portal.  
The door burst open.  
And the last thing he heard was something that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

"Now we've got you, Hines!"  


He remembered, now. He had left his father to die. All the knowledge he had learnt as a boy; and he couldn't even save his own father.

Balrog's Sanctuary.

It was once a terrible place, feared by all, but now it was their only chance of survival. The seal that had once kept Balrog in now kept him out.

He touched the Runic writings on the edge of the wall. He had never known what they meant, but they were his last connection with the world outside. That, and the six children that were with him. The eldest was barely 10 years old. He wondered what happened to the world outside; if it was all gone. It seemed just yesterday he had been secretly reading the books of spells his father kept in his library; his powers seemed so useless now.

The world he knew was gone.

Three hundred years had passed, and monsters ruled the land.

This was all he had left.

He watched as the murky darkness of the underground lake reflected the void that he felt in his soul.

And he couldn't help but wonder.


	2. Call from the Deep

My Chapter – Call from the Deep

He watched the lake; its pristine, clear surface the only thing still undesecrated in this, his home. Its mirror surface clearly reflected the soft, glowing halo which indicated an active Seal of the Ancients. He turned to look at the children.

There were six of them left. He originally had a party of fourteen. He blinked back tears as he remembered how each of them had been taken by the monsters which lurked just outside the Sanctuary...

_It had been their third day, and still they could find no food. The children were already half-starved, and he knew he could not hold out for much longer either._

It had been then that he had decided to go on the ill-fated first trip. Despite the fact that it brought them food, had he known the price he would have to pay, he would never have tried it.

His hunting party had gone out with eight members today. He returned with only three.

He remembered how they had left the blue glow of the Sanctuary. It protected only against dark powers, and did not hinder their exit.  
They left the blue glow; and found themselves in utter darkness.

Holy Arrow

He arced his hands in the air, pulling one back against the other, then pushed his palms outwards. An arc of light shot up straight into the air, then burst into a brilliant stream of light. Even without his wand, it was still extremely bright. Now they could see.

They found themselves in a maze of corridors stretching out in every direction the eye could see. The blue glow of the seal still shone behind them, but the further they got from it, the less safe they felt.

Nervously the children followed him. They knew not what to expect; their encounters with monsters rarely meant anything larger than a Poring. With great trepidation, he rounded the corners of this natural maze; hoping that they would find something they might eat in this hostile environment. Already a thought was forming at the back of his mind that using Holy Arrow to illuminate the tunnel might have helped the monsters more than it helped them.

It wasn't long before they came upon their first find. A bush which appeared to be constructed completely out of stone. The berries on the bush looked succulent enough; and the children were soon gorging themselves on their first meal in a long time. But he wasn't so sure... What had he seen in his father's books that filled him with a sense of foreboding...?

A flash of darkness, and a menacing crunch.

He spun around to see a strange plant making its way toward them. The children hardly noticed it, but his instincts had warned him of this. He remembered now. His father had had a book of some length of the strange adaptabilities of these plants; the nependeaths.

Nependeaths. Devious beyond the human capacity to understand. It seemed as though this particular one had developed a symbiotic relationship with the strange bush...

A sudden feeling of dread in his stomach; he turned to the children, who had not noticed the plant behind them. It silently glided through the soil... except that it was solid rock. He stood in awe of the beast, but beyond that, for fear of the children's safety. Shouting a warning cry, he concentrated again, his arm weaving arcane shapes in front of him.

Nependeaths. They might be strong, but they were still plants.

Fire Brace.

He unleashed a stream of liquid fire at the nependeath, expecting it to wilt under the intense heat. The children had noticed now, and they stopped to stare at the sight; unable to comprehend the danger that they were in.

The heat of the flame was strong, but the nependeath had no intention of being roasted. As he held the flame in a steady stream, he could not concentrate on anything else. The nependeath shied away from the heat.

That's done it, he thought.

A scream from behind him. He whirled to see one of the children being attacked by the roots of the nependeath. He rushed forward to try to save her, but she was sucked under the surface before he could move. Her last screams he would hear forever...

Only three members returned through the seal. He felt sorrow for those who died; but he had not come back empty handed. He weighed the object he had found in his hands. Back in a past world, he thought, it would have been worth millions.

It was an item bag. He had come across it only once before. It carried a little of the Creator's power, he knew. He had only to visualize an item appear in the bag, and it would.

Their lives will not have been wasted in vain, he promised himself.

He was overcome by a fresh wave of sorrow. The other children were gone not because of him; they had wandered off themselves, but he still felt he was to blame. Frustrated, he reached down and picked a rock up.

To hell with the world.

He flung the rock with all his force into the centre of the lake.

"Whaaaaa---?"

It started from the centre. The ripples slowly spread outward, slowly, reflecting the light of the Seal. Gently it touched each of the eight stone columns positioned on the outer ring of the lake. For the first time, he saw, it was a perfect circle.

As the water reached the edge, it did not halt. It rushed up the sides of the stone column and in the top. Each column glowed with a bright blue or red light, each bearing the symbol of either a bow, a sword, a throwing star, or a staff. A small glass orb was positioned above each symbol, and it was into this that the lake's water fell. Slowly, the lake emptied, and all that was left of it was a basin of pure marble base, slowly resonating with a pulse which he felt in his own heart.

As he stepped closer to the lake, the column with the blue staff on it glowed brighter, and the lake water in it trickled down into the blue symbol, turning it white. As he stood, amazed at the wondrous miracle he beheld, he heard a voice call out to him.

He almost choked; he remembered it as well as he had those three hundred years ago.

It was his Father's.

_My son..._

He started; tears began to form again, but he blinked them away.

_If you are hearing this; everything that we feared might happen has happened. The darkness has overrun our world, and there is nothing left but this.  
We call out to you, us four Wisemen of Maple, to deliver us from this darkness we are trapped in. The prophecy has come true at last, as we feared it would.  
In this darkness we are trapped._

He gasped in astonishment as his mind filled with images; people; places; things he had never seen, words he had never known.

He fell back against the pillar, exhausted. It was then that he caught a word he recognized. He started, and looked at the crumbling stone pillar. The runic inscriptions blurred for a moment, then refocused themselves. It was written in the ancient Maple tongue, one that no one could remember, or had remembered, for centuries.

Until now.

The words written there filled his mind.

_On darkness tide there rides a storm  
Creation ending submission  
Destruction chaos returns  
To how it was before the light  
Entered; pierced; returned  
Eight people; children of fate  
Give back that which was taken  
The dark; light; and in between  
Balanced; once again._

He sat there, motionless, understanding but not comprehending. Then he felt the presence of his father again.

_The castle in the sky..._

A flash of light

_Palace of the Crescent Moon_

The abode of darkness.

_Orbis_

And he had to get there; somehow.


	3. Unfortunate Encounter

My Chapter – Unfortunate Encounter –

She considered the flower for a moment.

It was one of those flowers which seemed to grow everywhere but where you wanted them to. A weed, some would call it. She watched it, head tilted to a side.

Anywhere else, she would have disregarded it.

But here, up in the mountains of Perion, she could not help but notice it. The rocks had turned blue, and the shrubbery around was sparse and raggled, as if they had never wanted to exist up here; yet, here was a flower flourishing with such brilliance...

_A shadow_

Before she had seen it, she had felt it coming. She whirled around, her braided hair whipping behind her.

_Now a shimmer against the sky..._

She swore softly under her breath. The Dawnbreakers, as her people called them, were perhaps the most dangerous beings in the clouds of Perion. She watched as the shimmering patch of sky gradually grew larger, tensed as she heard the flapping of enormous wings. It was too late to run now, all she could do would be to

_Fight._

From a satchel she carried at her waist she pulled out a long thin flute. It had served her well when she had played at the Festival the year before.

Now it would serve her well as a weapon.

A quick flick, and the hollow, handcrafted wood had snapped apart. A thin, steel chain hung between the two pieces. Deftly her hand caught both pieces up and snapped their ends together; slipping the weapon over her arm, she was ready.

And not a moment too soon.

The breath caught in her throat as a massive fist materialized a foot away from her face. She dropped to a knee just in time as the fist crushed the wall behind her. Another second and she'd have been _in_ the wall.

Quickly but expertly she wrenched the flower, roots intact, from the rock. She placed it in her satchel for safekeeping.

Now the Dawnbreaker had fully materialized. In spite of herself she paused a moment to stare at the huge monstrosity that hovered in the air just in front of her.

Her tribe called it the Dawnbreaker.  
We call it Balrog.

She swore again, louder this time.

As the Dawnbreaker lifted its fist to strike again, she took a half second to examine her surroundings. She was standing on a narrow platform, barely two feet across. Already a hole twice her size had been made in the craggy exterior of the mountain, and the platform wouldn't survive a second.

She had only one option.

As the massive fist plowed towards her, she jumped.

In mid-air, she brought her knees up to her chest and her right arm down to a side. She had given herself a little backward momentum as she had jumped, and as she felt herself begin to descend, she sprang into action.

She pushed back against the wall behind her; pushing away not a minute too soon. The mighty fist struck the wall again, but then she was flying towards it, her right arm with the weapon below her, bracing for the impact.

She landed with a jolt, but she had been trained too well to care. She landed on all fours, lessening the impact with a slight bending of her arms; getting ready to spring again...

And then she was above it and on the way down.

For a creature its size, the Dawnbreaker responded with unexpected quickness. It pulled its fist back; the platform crumbling under it, and released a bolt of dark lightning at the girl who dared to defy him.

She twisted in a single, graceful movement; the weapon which she wore on her right arm cut the wind to a side; in a moment the slipstream had carried her past the deadly bolt.

Within her flute she had placed a paper-thin blade of adamantium, but this alloy had not been any ordinary one. Legend had it that it had been forged from the blade of a Taurospear; forged by the legendary craftsman of yore, Mr. Smith.

And now it would be the saving of her.

_Gale Strike_

She focused her mind, remembering what she had been taught by the spirits of the wind. The hawk; its movements faster than the eye could see.

She sliced the air in front of her; adding to her downward momentum... Closer and closer... She could see the Dawnbreaker charging up another burst of dark energy...

She anticipated the impact, and at the last moment, feinted.

The Dawnbreaker roared in rage as it released its attack a moment too late. Moments later it roared again as she scored a slash across its left wing as she landed on it. And then she took off again.

She smiled. She disliked fighting, but she had to admit; it felt good.

The Balrog was big; and against any normal foe, that would have been a powerful advantage. But she had the agility of a thief, and in that she proved the perfect adversary for it.

She dived again; but her strategy was not just to rush it. She may have been more agile than it, but the fact remained she was a few thousand feet above the ground, and she couldn't fly. Landing lightly on the tip of the Balrog's wing, she maintained her balance as it deliberately dived downwards in an attempt to throw her off. She hesitated for a moment as a downward lurching seized her stomach, then flipped lightly forward; ready to catch it on the back of its wing as he rose again.

But the Balrog had anticipated that.

Once again, it displayed tremendous agility for a monster of its size. Twisting its body around so it lay in mid air, he mustered all the dark energy he could in a second.

_Burst Stream_

A stream of pure darkness ripped through the sky. Thrown, she swerved out of the way of the huge beam. She could feel the darkness of the void; it was immense. As the Balrog finished its attack, she was relieved. She had survived the attack.

_But can you survive the fall?_

A voice at the back of her head warned her of the imminent danger. The Balrog lay a good distance to her right now, and she had no hope of catching it.

_Don't despair_

Unless...

Quickly she pulled her weapon off her arm, unintentionally scoring a wound on the inside of her bare arm. She chastised herself for not wearing her bracers that day. Then again, she had never meant to be fighting a Dawnbreaker...

She unattached the two parts of her flute. She chanced a glance at the Dawnbreaker still a ways below her. Could she make it? The long thin wire glistened in the sunlight; in a split second she had wound it around the sash she wore around her waist, and, with her heart in her throat, launched the other side towards the Balrog, only hoping it wouldn't move away...

The Balrog in question saw it coming; it wasn't worried, however. Many monsters had abilities that far surpassed humans, and Balrogs could see and judge distances much better by far.

The wire was a metre too short.

She noticed it a few seconds later.

And almost screamed in frustration. But even had she screamed, the wind would have snatched it away. Her throw was perfect, the two blades slicing the wind so that they could have made it all the way; but for that minor technicality.

_You have one chance. Use it._

That voice at the back of her head again. She knew it was familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had heard it.

But she did know what to do.

She undid the sash that hung around her waist. Luckily, it didn't actually hold anything together. Her overlarge top now hung over her shorts; but now wasn't the time to examine if she was well-dressed or not.

It was a time for action.

And action was now.

Her heart gave a great leap as she felt a sudden tug on the sash she now held in her hands. She had managed to catch it! She felt the sash pull taut a second later as she fell below Balrog. The Dawnbreaker.

It roared; in disbelief this time, as it realized the battle was not over. In vain it tried to tear apart the wire which held the girl to him. The makeshift hook had caught in its back; the single place where it could not reach. How could a single human remain a pest for so long? He finally severed the sash as she swung from the temporary rope; but it was too late. Her upward momentum carried her against the wall, and like a cat she sprang from it, landing squarely on his arm.

_You won't get me that easy_, she thought.

Before he could attempt to shake her off. she had already begun running. Her jump, when she finally made it, took her across the breadth of the Balrog. As she flew through the air, she grabbed the flute still embedded in the Balrog's flesh, using it as a grip from which she swung herself higher up, taking it with her as she left. Dropping to a knee, the other leg pulled up to steady her, she landed on its head.

_My chance has come at last._

The Balrog shook in fury, but now with more than a little fear.

"You fool human; do you really think you can defeat me!"

But her face was emotionless now. The power was no longer in its hands, but hers.

She recalled the ancient skill, once passed down to each and every warrior in battle, a skill forgotten by all but a few of her elders. A skill of the days before the Crimson Tide.

_Power Strike_

The Balrog roared in fury as its body disintegrated in a flash of anti-light. She jumped gracefully off and landed on a platform a few feet below.

"But we're not gone; not yet."


	4. Shattered

My Chapter – Shattered –

"_You did it."_

It was that voice again. She knew she knew it; but she didn't know what it was.

_Who are you?  
"I am the past."  
What?  
"I am your past, your present, and your future"  
What do you mean?  
_  
But the voice was silent. She continued her ascent up the sheer cliff. Another few hundred meters and she would be home. To any other human, the climb would have been near-impossible; but she was one of the Mountain People, and among her people she was acknowledged as one of the best Scouts.

She checked her satchel. In it were her flute and the white flower she had found. It was, quite miraculously, still intact despite the battle she had just fought. She looked up at the sky. The sun shone almost directly overhead. She still had time.

Quickly she appraised her attire. Her Guardian was strongly against her getting into danger of any sort; she didn't quite understand why he had actually let her become a Scout if he was so against fighting.

A long cut ran the length of her thigh. It wasn't bleeding, but it was remarkably noticeable. She swore under her breath. Why hadn't she had the sense of mind to wear something that would at least protect her legs?

"_Because..._

"Because you never expected to find the Dawnbreaker.

"Only yourself."

Her sash was gone now. Another casualty of the battle. Quickly she tore the loose edge of her top and tied it around her leg. Hiding the knot, she covered the wound well; except that she now had one side of her shorts looking longer than the other.

_Oh well. Maybe I can sneak into the house and change out before anyone notices.  
_  
"_You think?"_ The voice seemed almost mischievous, but its presence was gone before she could fire back a suitable retort.

She continued her climb up the mountain. Once she was back, she would replant the flower... and then...

"_Watch out!"_

It was her only warning. She ducked not a moment too soon as a bolt of dark lightning screamed over her head.

_Them!_ _"Are there more?"_

The two voices in her head spoke simultaneously. But then she saw that she wasn't the target. The Dawnbreaker swept over her head, leaving her to stare as she watched it fly into the distance.

"_Towards your home."_

Suppressing a cry of despair, she could only hope she was not too late.

With a single bound and a flip she was over the last cliff.

"_By the Four..."_

She had no idea what the Four were, but the voice was justified.

She sank to her knees.

"_I'm sorry"_

Her village was gone. She could see spires of smoke rising where houses once were; where she had once played with her childhood friends, huge craters of ash lay. The wind rushed in to fill the silence.

The ashes swept away on its zephyr wing.

It was all gone, but she would not cry for them. Her hand reached into the satchel, and pulled out her flute.

_One last song.  
"?"_

_The Requiem of the Lost Souls_

It was an old tune. She had never played it before; and heard it only once; the day after her parents had died.

But in her dreams she had never forgotten.

A soft haunting voice accompanied her playing. She realized that it was the voice; the one inside her head.

"_Arise; my children  
"From the dawn, reawaken  
Once more to sleep again..."_

She closed her eyes and was surprised to find tears. Blinking them away, she concentrated once more on her task at hand.

"_Return again  
"Release the darkness and the pain  
"And become pure again."_

She could not stop playing now; she watched in wonder as the wind changed. Now it blew gently upward, the ashes it held glowing faintly white.

"_To the sky, away from death  
"Come to me; repent, forget;  
"And rest in peace again..."_

Both the voice and the flute broke off. She slumped to the ground, staring in wonder as white orbs of light escaped from the char-blackened soil of the earth and rose into the sky.

"_It is done."_

_Who are you?_

She asked the voice again; hoping to hear a reply.

"_I am..."_

The voice made as though to reply.

"_Sleep now, child, and I will tell you all…"_

She closed her eyes, and her world turned white.

_Light  
Darkness  
There is no difference._

Palace of the Crescent Moon  
Master of Souls  
Reach of Night.

Eight children of fate.  
One who seeks power.  
One who refuses it.

Two, different as  
Night and day  
And another who walks the twilight.

One who cannot remember;  
One who cannot return.  
And then...

There's you.


	5. Sacrifice

My Chapter - Sacrifice -

He watched the children; sleeping.

Only six left.

He could feel the sadness welling up inside him. He felt torn between the two paths he had to choose.

_Light and Shadow._

He started.

_When the time comes that you have to choose, which path will you follow?_

It was a soft, feminine voice. He didn't recognize it, but it sounded almost familiar; like a song he had once known.

Who are you?  
_I am your shadow.__Your question... Who are you?_  
I am...

But he couldn't answer.

_You are of the twilight, my child. Not many are born to walk this path, but grave times are upon us. Remember this, child, whenever you are forced to choose a way._

Of Light and Darkness...

But the voice had faded away.

He weighed the item bag in his hands. While it could prove a useful item, he knew that without it, the children would inevitably starve.

He looked around at the cave that had been his home for centuries.

Its darkness seemed almost a comfort to him, for it was at least a darkness he could banish. The world outside was one that held no happy memories for him; it was a world that had taken away his family, his friends, his home.

His life had been nothing more.

But then this.

This cave had provided him with more miracles than he could have hoped to ever have witnessed in a lifetime.

But is it all on me now?

_Eight children._

That voice again.

_Eight children will drive back the darkness. They will learn to laugh, to cry, to hurt, to hope, to try, and to love and hate. For it is these emotions that makes each of us human, and it is with this that we can defeat the Crimson Tide._

It is each other...

The voice choked off.

Wait!

But it was gone again.

He stood, but as he did, he knew he wasn't standing alone.

_Spirit of the dark and light; lend me your wings..._

Carefully he invoked the power of the magic circle which he had drawn in front of him.

He knew that if he ever wanted to see the light of day, he would have no choice but to use this. It had taken him over a hundred years, but...

_Who are you to demand this of us?_

The voice sounded distorted; like two voices spliced into one, each trying to speak over the other.

_One who has nothing left to give; and nothing left to lose._

The spirits demand a price... Will you pay it?

My mission is bound to me; it is a price I must pay.

The magic circle suddenly glowed a bright green, and from its depths emerged an orb of darkmatter.

He had no idea what price the spirits would demand, but at this point, there was no turning back.

_Stretch out your hand._

After a moment of hesitation, he complied.

Quick as thought, the darkmatter enveloped his hand.

_AAAAAUUUGHHHH!_

He let out a silent scream as the pain spread from his hand to his arm and racked his body. The darkmatter on his arm danced along the length of his body as he fell back; unconscious. Then it settled onto the back of his hand, forming a distinct mark; two snakes intertwined.

From the circle, an orb of light settled around him and lifted him into the air.

_Poor child...  
He shall endure much more before his quest is over.  
But the price... was it, perhaps, too high?_

The other voice was silent.

He awoke with a splitting headache. Falling to the ground, he waited till his nerves had composed themselves enough, and then brought a hand up to shield his face from the sunlight.

_Strange... this mark on my hand..._

He got up and realized he was in the middle of a forest. Half-ruined buildings were everywhere around him; it was evident that _something_ had destroyed the place a long time ago. The forest had begun to reclaim it, however, and most of the scars had already been healed.

But the same question remained in his mind.

_Where am I?_

And then he realized.

_Who am I?_


	6. Twisted Justice

**No reviews yet. Oh well. All this's already been written. Just in case anyone who's reading this doesn't know, this is only one out of five different perspectives this story is told by. It was written by many others than just me, but if enough people express interest, I might be doing an entire rewriting of the story so I can weave one complete web.**

My Chapter - Twisted Justice -

_There's you._

She awoke to the sound of silence. Around her she saw that nothing had changed. The village had not come back, and it probably never would, yet she felt no guilt now. Sadness, yes, but it was an inevitability she knew she would never live without.

But it isn't about me is it?

She got to her feet, and as she did, the voice spoke again.

_It is each other..._  
What do you mean?

But there was no reply.

Victoria Island.

It had been her home for as long as she could remember, but now she realized that she had never really seen anything of it.

Perion... E... Ellinia. Henesys. Kerning... Lith.

She recalled the names of the principal cities as though from over a vast distance, even though she still remembered...

_"Yue!" _

Her Guardian snapped again, exasperated at the lack of interest his charge showed in her own education.

She studied his face in her memories, surprised how well she still remembered him. He had been stern and very strict to her, and she realized now that she had felt more than a little resentment at being treated like a little girl.

But now it's too late.  
_Not too late for you._

She jumped. The voice came out of nowhere, yet it seemed as though its presence had been always there.

_South-East of here you will find one of the Children of Fate.  
Alone in a forest... Unafraid but confused; he needs your help._  
He?

Her outburst came before she knew what she was doing.

The voice began to sound a little exasperated.

_You didn't expect the Children of Fate to be all female, did you?_  
No... But...

If she could have seen the face the voice belonged to, she was sure it would have been rolling its eyes.

_He needs your help. And, like it or not, you need his._

Her descent down the mountain was uneventful. She watched the sky for any sign of the Dawnbreakers, but none appeared.

It was as if after destroying the last human outpost of Perion, they saw no need to patrol it anymore.

Her hand curled into a fist; her face resolute as she sped down a path that was almost perpendicular to the ground. It was the quickest way down she knew, but one which would have killed most ordinary humans.

_But I am who I am. _

And I will not rest until I have my Justice.

_The forest of Ellinia..._

Many a time she had seen it from atop the mountain... it had seemed so small; so insignificant. Now that she was standing in front of it however...

It's huge.  
_I know._

Awestruck, she stepped into the shaded cool of the trees.

It was like going underwater. All of a sudden, the whispers of the wind, the presence of rock and sand faded away; to be replaced by a sense of the wild... of the untamed.

A flock of strange birds chorused in a cacophony of sounds,

Different, but not unpleasant.

Her instincts as a Scout told her first to get to know the place around her, and yet at the same time curiosity told her to further explore this; an untouched kingdom, without caring about danger or traps.

The canopy of trees above her blocked out all but a few of the sun's rays, which refracted off dewdrops gathered on leaves on some of the taller trees.

It was light. It was color. It was vibrance.

_It was why you wanted to become a Scout, wasn't it?_

She paused; startled.

How can you know so much about me?  
_I told you before. _

I am your past, present and future.

She jumped; from the large branch she had been standing on, to a smaller branch, twenty feet below.

Exhilaration; it was her first time out, alone, without anyone to stop her from having fun.

But then she remembered.

_Except yourself._

And all of a sudden the guilt returned. Here she was, enjoying herself; experiencing what she had never been able to before, when her people were dead and gone...

And she was their only hope.

The sudden realization brought coldness to her features. She touched the scar along her leg as if to remind herself.

_The Crimson Tide had done this. _

And they would pay.

Three hours in... And still nothing.

Exhausted...

She sank down to the ground, resting at the foot of a giant tree.

_Heh..._  
What now?  
_Nothing... only..._

The voice just seemed to love to bait her.

_We've arrived._  
What!

Getting to her feet, she froze.

And stared.

The forest around her was no less green, no less full of color and life, but there was something here. For the first time she realized she hadn't been walking on the ground.

Thick branches and vines lashed together to form a strong platform. She knew immediately that this must have taken at least a hundred years to form.

_More like three hundred._

Three hundred years. So much happened on that day so long ago...

_More than you will know._

For the first time she heard the voice speak with a tinge of sadness. Sadness at something it had lost; something it desperately needed to find. She felt it sense her inquiring thoughts, but instead of responding, it faded away.

But what of the world below?

The platform ended a few feet ahead. Carefully, she walked to the edge and peered over.

_Burning... _

Balrog's rage...

Defiance; and defeat...

Images crowded her mind, flashing past her one by one in an inexorable parade. Dancing around inside her head, she felt lost, confused... but strangely she understood them all.

And then they were gone.

She struggled. Struggled to keep those memories with her. She knew they were important, but it was useless. Like a castle built upon the sand, the wave of time washed it all away.

The city of Ellinia might have stood proud at the best of times, but now it was little more than a scar. A scar which time would heal eventually; that it might disappear into the past.

The voice burst out vehemently.

_It won't!_

But then it was silent.

It's as though it's in a waking dream... And there's no escape.

Struggling to keep her mind to the task at hand, she forced herself to take a look once more at the city that seemed to have given the voice such painful memories.

And then she saw him.

He was sitting on the ground, an insignificant speck from where she stood. But besides, he was doing very little.

He doesn't seem to need much help...  
_But he does. More than you do, in fact._

Heeding the voice, she began her descent down towards the ground. She was used to the hard, sun-baked ground of the Perion Mountains; she sprang confidently from her branch to one some ten feet to her right.

But this wasn't Perion.

Immediately things went wrong as a vine caught her in mid leap. It tugged on to the ragged strip of cloth around her leg and refused to let go.

Now a group of small monkeys had gathered around her, jabbering and pointing excitedly.

Nice to know I'm appreciated.

In irritation, she tore the cloth from her leg. Now the scar was laid bare again.

Not that it'll matter anymore.

She plummeted ten feet down before she thought of grabbing onto a vine. It slowed down her fall, considerably, but when she finally did land on the ground, it was with a resounding thump.

_Thump._

The boy looked up at her.

She looked at him.

She wondered what she was meant to say. Wasn't the rescuee the one to pour forth words of gratitude? Tilting her head to a side, she appraised him quickly.

He was around her age; perhaps older, but the look of confusion on his face made him seem like a little boy; lost. He was wearing a ragged plerobe which looked as though it had been a sack of potatoes in its previous incarnation; ragged and torn. His hands were delicate; from the look of it he had never lifted anything heavier than perhaps a small stone in his life.

She started as she realized his head was also tilted to a side.

Is he... copying me?

But then he spoke.

"Who are you?"

As if there was nothing surprising about her suddenly falling in from the sky in the middle of an old ruin.

"My... my name's Yue. What's yours?"

He frowned.

"My name's..."

His voice sounded artificial; as if he didn't know how to speak.

_He doesn't know._

"I don't know."

_Toldja._

What am I supposed to do with him?

She jumped. She looked down and saw that he had crawled over to her and put his hands on her thigh.

What... what is he doing!

Before she could speak his eyes were closed.

_Heal..._

She heard his mind's voice echoing in her mind. It had a pleasant lilt to it, and sounded a lot more sincere than his actual voice had been.

She felt a rush of energy spread from his hands into her legs. The feeling was actually... rather nice. She let herself drift away as she felt the multiple cuts and bruises on her body melt away.

She was almost sorry when he finally let go. A faint smile on his lips, he stood up and walked over to one of the trees, as if studying it. Then he sat down under it and resumed his cross-legged position.

She looked at her leg. The skin was unblemished; the scar was gone.

How did he do that?  
_He doesn't know, yet._  
What? But then...  
_He follows his instincts; a bit like you... He's paid the heaviest price among all of you._  
All of us?

She watched as he closed his eyes and lost himself in his mind.

_Do you feel anything for him?_  
What!  
_No... I mean... can you feel his presence in your mind?_

She thought back to when he had laid his hands on her... The peace of his mind...

When he healed me... Yes... I think I did.  
_The boy... He's the one who will bring the eight of you together._  
You mean, like a leader?

The mild-mannered boy who didn't know who he was didn't seem like a likely candidate on Yue's top 10 Leaders of the Children of Fate list. If she had had one.

_He would never call himself that._  
How do you know so much about him?  
_The same way he knows about you._  
Me?

But the voice was gone.

_He has paid the heaviest price..._

She thought of the price she had to pay. How could his price possibly be worse?

Wait a second...  
_Heal...  
The boy..._

She played their voices back in her mind. What seemed so familiar about both these voices?

_One who walks the twilight..._

And in that instant, she knew.


	7. Cutting Shadows

**A/N: Well I've decided to introduce a few concepts about this story before it gets too confusing.**

**Firstly, the boy before he'd lost his memories had some knowledge of Spell Synthesis, an ability to combine spells at an incredible cost to mana. The first spell he cast, Cleansing Fire, was a combination of Heal and Fire Arrow, producing a fiery aura about himself.**

**Secondly, Dawnbreakers as Yue knows them are merely one form of the Balrog. 300 years into the future, evolution has given many of these creatures new powers; like becoming invisible, or psychic strength (as you'll see in this chapter)**

**Thirdly, I've just realized that the asterisks I've been using to indicate subchapter breaks all this time has been ignored by the thingy. Phooey. So I'm adding rulers now.  
**

**And fourthly... if you're reading this, please review. I'd like to know if anyone actually find this interesting. It's all prewritten; I've got about 60 chapters, but only a few are mine and related to this branch in the story. If there's an interest, I'll rewrite the rest. As I've stated in the summary, there are eight Children of Fate; and I'm going to do four parts; each with two different characters.  
**

My Chapter – Cutting Shadows –

Carefully he watched the darkness.

It had something to do with the strange mark on his arm, he knew, but the darkness had never really frightened him. It was a part of his existence, after all, and a side of himself he was ready to discover.

As he accepted it, so it accepted him; like a friend it had revealed its secrets to him; attuned to the darkness and the sound of silence, he knew.

_Something's here..._

He looked over at the girl who lay before the smoldering remains of the fire. Concentrating, he reached into her mind.

_"Yue..."_

She murmured in her sleep, but did not respond. Shrugging his shoulders, he remembered to gently push her dreams aside. _Without_ looking at them.

_"Yue..._

_"Please wake up..."_

This time, she stirred. Slowly, she lifted herself up with her elbows.

"Wha--"

Before she could finish speaking, he was beside her, a hand over her mouth.

_"Not now."_

And then, in response to her unfinished question,

_"There's something; watching... watching us."_

All at once, he felt a surge of emotions well up in her. Through the link, he felt her anger, her sorrow, her pain.

But clearest of all, he felt it resonate with an emotion that they both shared.

_Fear._

His was a fear of the unknown, but hers was a fear of something worse. Her past...

_A past I don't have._

As if waking from a dream, he finally realized his hand was still over her mouth.

_"Sorry."_

Hastily he released her and then stood up. She stood up a little more cautiously, her hand stealing into the satchel she constantly kept by her side. He looked up among the trees again.

_So then._

_At least I won't have to climb._

* * *

She woke to his hand over her mouth. 

"Wha--"

_"Not now."_

Carefully her eyes surveyed the darkness.

_Light of the Abyss_

Like a void in the world, it yawned; a gaping hole which reached for her... to take her into its folds...

_Don't be afraid._

It was his voice, but this time it sounded different. Somehow, the feel of his hand gave her some reassurance.  
_  
You're not alone.  
It won't take you.  
Not without me.  
_

She moved. If she had to endure his hand on her mouth another minute, it might as well have been in a comfortable position. But as she did, it was as if she had broken his trance.

_"Sorry."_

He released her, getting to his feet. His voice in her head quieted. Slowly, ever aware of the danger, she rose as well, reaching a hand into her satchel and fingering the patterns of warding carved onto her flute.

_But it won't help now._

The night air was clean and fresh as it always was, but under it she could sense an undertone of something foul and defiled; that reeked of rot and decay. The darkness seemed more oppressive than ever now.

_"The Darkness is not your enemy."_

She remembered his voice now. But she didn't feel quite as assured.

After all, it wasn't the darkness she was afraid of, but what it hid.

Like a Balrog, for instance.

* * *

"I know you're there." 

The darkness shifted; he sensed the creature's movement.

It was big.

He looked across at her. She had seen it too. Not in the same way, but she had. Her hand withdrew what looked like a flute from her satchel. Hardly a time to play a song, but he had an idea that that wasn't its only purpose.

_"Not yet."_

She was skilled, he admitted. No normal human could have ever executed such feats of dexterity and strength with such grace; in spite of himself, he admired her for that.

_But that's no excuse to be rash._

He turned once again to the dark mass in the trees.

"What is your purpose in coming here?"

Beside him, she fidgeted. As if unable to stop herself, she let loose an urgent side-whisper.

"Obviously, he means to kill us. What more do we need to understand?"

Before he could reply, a resounding note of laughter sounded.

_"I'm afraid your little girlfriend is correct."_

Tensing, he realized for the first time what he was up against. The mindvoice of this creature was far stronger than any he had ever heard. While keeping an eye on the shadows, getting ready to act the instant it revealed itself, he chanced a glance at her.

"Uhhh..."

She groaned as she swayed; her mind had no resistance to offer against this. Quickly, he grabbed her by the hand, willing her pain to subside; to fade into his. He didn't know how it'd work, or even if it would.

But he had to try.

* * *

_"I'm afraid your little girlfriend is correct."_

Before she could respond, she felt a wave of nausea sweep over her.

_I'm afraid..._

The darkness washed over her, leaving her shivering.

_... your little girlfriend..._

Her vision swam. She blinked, shaking her head; but it refused to clear.

Her knees buckled as she swayed. Wave upon wave of dull throbbing pain. In the back of her mind, she marveled at this.

_Is this going to be my defeat?_

Its mindvoice. She remembered _his_ mindvoice. It had given her an inexplicable sense of comfort; of understanding and warmth. But this voice was the exact opposite. Cold; dark and evil to its core. To think that she would lose to this... A mere voice in the darkness...

She let herself drift away.

Out of nowhere, she felt his hand close on hers.

_"Don't give in."_

His voice sounded unsteady; as if it cost him a lot of effort to speak. She could feel his mind in her head.

Shielding her.

And then she heard it again.

_"Mageling... You presume to stop me?"_

Through his mind she heard the voice; she felt no pain but his. Urgently she willed some of her strength into his mind, but he refused it.

_Save it._

_"I... I presume nothing."_

A low rumbling that could have passed for laughter sounded again.

_"No..."_

The monster's voice took on a menacing air. Waves of dark energy pushed against the barrier of his mind; she could feel him weakening, herself helpless against it. And then it spoke.

"On ThE coNtRAry... YoU PReSumE ToO MUcH...!"

From the shadows it emerged.

She was filled with a sense of revulsion.

It was a Dawnbreaker, but one unlike any she had ever seen. It exuded an aura of rot and decay; of things gone bad under the soil. Its eyes were two red pinpoints in the darkness, its skin a mottled green.

As it landed on the platform, she realized that its wings were almost completely torn away. Nothing was left of them but two ragged stumps. It lumbered towards them on all fours, each limb powerfully developed and ending in three wicked, sharp claws.

It drew breath with a rattling noise that belonged among the bones of the dead.

_It looks... hideous._

Too late his mind screamed a warning. Too late she realized that it could hear her thoughts.

With a roar of rage it swept both of them up in a single movement; she gasped for air as it crushed the two of them against each other.

_You can't die yet!_

She had no idea which of them voiced the thought, but as it made itself heard, she felt his presence appear in her mind; stronger than ever now.

_"We're not gone; not yet."_

_"Not ever."_

Images flashed before her eyes, places. Some she knew, some she didn't. Unsure of what was going on, she wondered if she _was_ watching her life flashing before her eyes.

_Trust me._

Her - No, _their_ minds finally focused on a single image. She had only time to see a curved, smooth dome and a set of white sails.

_We'll be safe there._

The pressure around her chest lessened; a blue light engulfed them as she slipped, blissfully, into unconsciousness.

_See you soon._


	8. Lost and Found

**A/N: Hooray! People who reviewed!**

**Like I said; all this's been written. If it ever gets to the point when I have to start writing again, the style will be pretty much different.**

**Sorry if it gets a little confusing as it goes on. Happening 300 years in the future, the skills of the Maplers of yore are actually pretty much legendary.**

**Looking back on this chapter, I first have to warn that it contains _fluff_. How terrible. I kinda feel sorry I added that element in so early. That's not really the point of the story, anyway. In the actual story, this is actually the 34th chapter. Because there were five different plots to follow. So I guess it seemed longer that time. **

**I really have no idea what to say. I'm just glad that people actually like this. Go figure.**

My Chapter – Lost and Found -

She opened her eyes.

_"White sails; flying..."_

The voice was back.

_Where were you?_  
_"Where was your mind?"_

She rose to a sitting position. Pushing her hair out of her face, she felt around for her belongings. They were still there.

Getting to her feet, she cautiously surveyed the area around her. She didn't want to be surprised by another attack.

_Red eyes; snarling darkness..._

But it was day now. She was still in Ellinia; the trees that surrounded this place was proof enough of that, but now the sunlight came through in large beams rather than narrow streams.

_"Almost at the top, then."_

The wind blew around her; at the lower levels the trees blocked out all but the fiercest ones. Up here she enjoyed the feeling of it in her hair; a feeling of open spaces that she had left behind long, too long ago.

She was on a massive structure, its moss-covered beams and damp platforms obvious marks of neglect. Standing on a platform made entirely out of wooden planks, it looked to be the deck of a ship.

_An enormous ship._

She approached the edge of the deck and looked over. Amazingly, the ship was balanced atop hundreds of trees, which seemed to support its weight rather precariously.

_What was this used for?_  
_"Haven't your elders ever told you of the legendary ship?"_

Tilting her head to a side, she looked through her memories; some good, some bad, but all painful.

_Her Guardian spoke gently, almost as if he was speaking to a little child._

_But he was,_ Yue realized. She had only been eight at the time.

_"More than two hundred years ago now, the people of Ellinia once had a service which ferried people from _ _Victoria Island__ to a mythical land in the clouds..."_

_"Ossyria."_

This time it was the voice who spoke.

_"The Palace of the Crescent Moon is your quest... and his."_

_But that's just it._

Her eyes searched the ship; her heart beat a little faster.

_Where is he...?_

* * *

His eyelids slowly flickered open.

_"Welcome back to the land of the living."_

At first he thought it was Yue. Then he realized that the voice was different. Yue's mindspeech was garbled with many other thoughts and emotions struggling to rise to the surface, yet there was a certain calmness about this voice.

_Who are you?_  
_"Forgotten me already?_

_"I'm disappointed."_

The voice was toying with him, he knew. He chose not to respond, and instead tried to get up. His lips were dry, cracked. He ran a tongue over them, but it felt leathery in his mouth. In vain he tried to get up; his arms lay useless at his sides. His body ached as he desperately tried to move, but it was useless.

_Did you do this to me?_

The voice laughed, a melodic peal that sounded strangely like the tinkling of bells.

_"I'm not the one you're fighting, don't worry. If it were me you'd probably have greater reason to worry."_

Once more he couldn't help but wonder

_Who are you?_  
_"I am... your other side."_

Confused, he strained one more time to lift an arm to help himself up. Failing, he lay, staring at the blank wooden ceiling above him. The room he was in was dark and dusty, but he didn't sense any monsters anywhere near.

_I... I don't understand.  
"You don't have to... not yet."  
What's happening to me?  
"You're tired... is all. Rest, and let me help you..."_

He didn't feel like he had any choice.

* * *

She ran down the corridors, wanting to call his name. The fact that she didn't know it made him seem suddenly further away.

_He can't have died... Not after saving me..._

She rounded another corner and returned to the deck where she had begun. She had searched the two upper decks now...

_Could it be... that he..._

A wave of guilt washed over her; she hadn't been able to protect anyone...

_"Yue..."_

She started. For an instant she had thought it was him.

_"Don't panic. Look into yourself... he exists inside you now too."_

Closing her eyes, she forced herself to concentrate on her first image of him, him seated in deep meditation as she fell from the tree.

_It seems so long ago now._

And then she felt it. A resonance; his link and hers. It was weak, but...

_He's alive. And he's on this ship._

There was only one place she hadn't searched...

_I hoped I wouldn't have to..._

Holding on to their link, she pushed open the door which led to the belowdecks, and stepped into utter darkness.

_White... bright light...  
Where are you?  
You can't die yet...  
I'll come find you.  
No matter what._

* * *

_"Wake up!"_

The voice woke him with a jolt.

_"I hope you're grateful."_

The voice sounded just a little put out.

_... Thanks..._

He still wasn't sure if the voice could be trusted. It... _she_ seemed to be capable of saving him or leaving him to die; it was duplicitous in more ways than one, sometimes serious, yet at other times teasing him.

He thought back to the voices he heard in his sleep... Was she looking for him even now? He stood up, marveling at how energetic he felt.

_You... really did a good job._

He could imagine the voice making a face.

_"Don't underestimate me."  
Underestimate who?  
"Don't you wish you knew?"_

Behind that last he heard a girlish giggle.

_Definitely female then._

The voice made as if to respond, but then suddenly it stopped, as though a switch had been flipped.

_Whaa--?_

But then he felt it too.

The link.

_"Yue... Yue can you hear me!"_

He stood and looked around the small room he was in. No windows and a single door.

_Well... that makes it easy for me._

Taking a deep breath, he turned the doorknob and stepped into complete silence.

* * *

_"Yue... Yue can you hear me!"_

She heard the voice as if over a vast distance, but it was unmistakable.

She almost cried out in relief.

_You're alive.  
"We're not gone, not yet. Weren't you the one who said that?"_

She smiled.

_And we won't ever be._

The darkness surrounded her completely, so much that she could hardly see her hand in front of her face.

_"Don't be afraid."_

_Never look back._

His voice was like a beacon through the darkness. She couldn't see, but she could feel, and at that moment her emotions showed her the way; of sympathy, empathy, gratitude, but under all of that, she realized she also felt

_Love._

In the space of a single day, they had gone through more than she had thought possible, and shared more than some people would have shared in a lifetime. She felt as though she owed him more than she could say, but at the same time she realized that that wasn't the whole of it.

She was more than a little fond of him.

_"Do you feel anything for him?"_

She had replied a resounding negative then. But now she wasn't so sure.

* * *

He ran through the darkness, his gift granting him black and white glimpses of the world around him.

It was something like a storage room, crates everywhere, forming a maze of sorts.

_How big is this place?_

It seemed like a never-ending maze of shadows.

_Left... left... right and then straight on..._

But he could feel her presence.

_Don't be afraid._

He knew what she must had been feeling at that time. The darkness was so complete, so absolute... Even to him it felt oppressive, threatening to crush him. The link between them... Instinctively he kept moving forward, trusting himself, and her as well.

_"Never look back."_

Her voice. It filled him with a sense of hope. He didn't stop to wonder why he was so concerned for her. He didn't know exactly, but he didn't really care. But she was there for him, and whatever it was, he felt a sense of gratitude that knew no bounds, and at the same time, a tender affection close to his heart.

_After all this, you're still my only friend._

He turned around another corner, sure of himself now. He owed her a debt that he would never be able to fully repay... but it was more than that, not for himself he knew, but for her too. He could feel it through the link, but he didn't know exactly what he was feeling.

_I'll find you... I promise._

And in his mind he knew the promise wasn't just his.

* * *

_I promise._

The words echoed in her mind as she kept running, her mind ablaze with emotions, yet strangely clear.

_It'll be our promise._

She felt rather than saw the obstacles in her way; it was as though he was there to show her the way.

_Or maybe I'm learning..._

Learning from him? Was it possible that he actually had anything to teach her? She remembered when she first met him. He had seemed so lost; so alone.

_But he's taught me more than he'll ever know._

She rounded another corner...

_Right, right, left and then..._

"Ahh!"

She ran straight into a wall. Falling back in pain, she winced as she stared up at the formidable dark mass in front of her.

_"Yue! Are you ok!"  
Don't worry.  
I'm fine..._

Getting up, she felt the wall in front of her. It felt cold, oppressive...

_What's this?_

A lever. Unhesitatingly, she pulled it.

And then the world went white.

* * *

_Darkness to Light_

His eyes strained as he tried to see through the sudden flash of light.

_What is this...?_

From behind his half-closed lids, he could vaguely make out signs of movement...

_Yue? Are you alright?_

No response. Allowing his eyes time to adjust to the light, he finally opened his eyes again.

_What the--_

The sight that greeted him was so fantastic he found it hard to believe. The darkness had not lied to him about the crates, but around him he saw so much more.

The ceiling was covered with gears and cogs, pistons and shafts, so much that it looked more like a giant machine than anything.

_What is this?_

Even as he watched, the machinery began to move, slowly at first, but then faster and faster. He watched it pick up speed, fascinated by its strange nonpurpose.

_"Where are you?"_

Her voice sounded so close. His heart pounding, he ignored the machines and ran straight ahead. But before he could move a step, his stomach lurched sickeningly as he felt the floor slip from under him. Falling to the ground, he struggled to find his feet, but to no avail.

_"Help!"_

Desperately he crawled on. She sounded so close now; he could feel her distress.

_I'm coming._

He labored forward, finally reaching the corner. He grabbed the edge of it with a shaking hand before his world seemed to tip over.

_Whoaa!_

Crates tumbled, missing him barely. As the ground stabilized, he realized there no longer was a floor under him.

The corridor had become a pit under him.

_I'm coming._

And he was hanging on by a thread.

* * *

She shook her head, trying to clear it from the shock of the impact.

_"I'm coming."_

His voice sounded so close, her heart surged with hope.

_Something's wrong._

A sinking feeling; it might have been the tone of his voice, it may have been the link they shared.

_Are you alright!_

No response. In frustration she stood up and ran down the corridor.

And almost threw herself down the yawning pit. She was sure it hadn't been there before.

_No...  
"Not yet."_

His mindvoice sounded tired, but was filled with grim determination. She choked back a cry as his hand appeared over the edge.

"I've got you."

She realized how shaky her voice was as it passed her lips. She grasped his hand with both of hers and pulled, landing him over her in a heap.

_You said we'd be safe here._

Her voice held no tone of accusation. She was relieved. They both were.

_"I told you I'd find you."_

Getting off her, he tilted his head to a side.

_Now he's definitely copying me._

_What?  
"How do I put this... what exactly did you do?"_

She smiled sheepishly.

_"Well, whatever it is, we'd better see what's happening outside."_

He turned to head towards the exit.

_Wait!_

She grabbed his arm.

"Umm... That really was troublesome... Next time, let's stick together, kay?"

He smiled.

_"Fine. Now let's go see just what trouble you've caused..."_

**A/N: Like I said. Fluff. Isn't that a tad sad to have. Oh well, can't be helped.**

**Please R&R. Cool.**


	9. Empathy

**A/N: Okay I really don't know what I must've been sniffing when I wrote this. Oh wait; I did. Ayumi Hamasaki's Dearest and Hikari by Utada Hikaru. I wonder why that made me write this. Must be the meaning of the words seeping into my head somehow. Anyways, this ended up being pretty much one of the coolest skills I've ever given any character I made. Sorry if all the characters seem a tad Sue-ish/Stu-ish. Enjoy it for the story and not for the realism of it all, is all I can say.**

**On another note, I've read through the chapters where I left off and I really feel like starting again. Of course, that'll have to wait till my exams are over and I have time to write this in between my Pokemon fanfic...**

**Like it really matters to you and all. Well, be prepared for more strange fluffiness; and I do not own MapleStory in any way.**

My Chapter – Empathy –

_What is this place?_

"A ship. And I guess this is its cargo area."

She still had her hand around his arm; he didn't even have to use mindspeech for her to sense his thoughts. Unfortunately that also meant he had to face a constant buzzing against his mind, almost like little insects; the turmoil of thoughts and emotions she hadn't yet learnt to control.

_I'll have to teach her someday._

"Teach me what?"

He smiled; unlike her, he knew how to mask his thoughts. He remembered the power of the monstrosity they had encountered in the forest. Its mind reeked of deceit, the power of falsehood and evil. It would take more than he himself could muster to defeat it.

_You have more to learn than even I know._

And that, at least, was true.

* * *

"Strange..." 

He looked at the door in front of them. She was right. It definitely was strange.

_Was it like this when you came in?_

She shook her head, a definite no.

_Let me in._

He reached into her mind, feeling her initial resistance melt away. Gently he scanned through her recent memories, ignoring anything that was at all personal.

Images flashed across his mind; her memories.

_A ship.  
A door.  
A lever._

Gears turning, cogs grinding... Gently he withdrew from her mind.

_I think I know what you did. Open the door, but don't step out._

It was easier said than done. Strangely, it seemed as though the door had turned itself sideways; now it hung on a hinge placed horizontally against the ceiling. The rhythmic rocking of the floor didn't help much.

_The rocking... I should have known before._

But it was slight, at best. He felt a tugging at his arm. A flash of bewilderment spread across his features.

_What?_

"I'm not going without you."

He smiled again, but then allowed himself to be dragged along with her. As she opened the door, he held on to the wall, bracing himself for what came next.

"Whaaa-!"

Now that their link had gone one step further, he tapped into her mind again, this time registering what she saw.

_Just as I expected._

The world outside the door fell hundreds of feet down; he could see the treetops of the forest rushing past under them. She had called it... Ellinia? The name sounded strangely familiar; like a friend he couldn't quite remember.

Quickly he pulled her from the edge, against him. As they collapsed to the floor, she looked around at him, confused.

"What was that for?"

He shrugged helplessly. It had seemed a good thing to do at the time.

_I was afraid you would've fallen over._

She tilted her head to a side, giving him another of those appraising looks. Then, she looked at him straight in the eye and winked.

"You've got nothing to worry about. I'm way more surefooted than you think."

He remembered, of course. She had leapt through the trees with as much elegance as though she had been born there. He got up, closed the door and sat back down beside her. That was a question he realized he had never asked her.

_I wanted to ask... did you live in that forest before?_

She tilted her head quizzically. It seemed to be a sort of trademark with her.

"Why d'ya ask?"

Now that she had mentioned it, he didn't exactly know why. He shrugged.

_I guess... if we're going to be traveling partners and all... we might as well know as much about each other as we can..._

She sighed and brushed her hair out of her eyes. Looking away from him, she began to speak.

"I was born in the mountains of Perion. Do you know where it is? Actually, it isn't very far away from Ellinia... here at all. I lived till the age of nine with my parents... until they...

"Dawnbreakers - The creature you saw just now was one of them - never attacked too regularly. My guessing is they just wanted to harry us; make sure we couldn't fight back, but... they took them. It was quick. A single claw and they were down."

Here she stopped; her breathing was uneven, and he could tell she was trying very hard to compose herself. When she opened her mouth to speak again, he gently placed a finger on her lips.

_Enough._

Gently he placed his hands on her face and touched his forehead to hers. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the link which bound them. Gently he reached into her; a process not unlike the first. He searched her memories, gathering the pain and sorrow he knew she felt...

Visions clouded his mind; the pain was so intense, yet so strangely familiar, close to himself. He felt it resonate in his heart, felt it flood into his very being. He could feel her tears now, feel them trickle down his hands...

_"You..." _

It was the voice again.

He stood in a pool of water, waist-deep. Only now he saw the water was made of her tears; dripping gently down from her heart. The water turned red as each tear fell; a drop of purest sorrow; of blood. But as it stilled it turned to pure water again.

"You..."

The voice came from the center of the pool. He waded slowly towards it, fearful of stirring the water lest the peace be disturbed. As he approached, a bright ball of light surfaced, its very presence calming him, soothing him.

Its physical manifestation...

"You... you are the one they call Empath."

Me?

The ball of light twinkled in response.

Who are they? What is an Empath...? Where am I?

"Don't you know yet?"

He looked around, watching the drops of bloodwater fall at a steady rhythm, watching the tears of sorrow fall...

At the same time, he realized his own heart beat at that same, unchanging rhythm.

I'm in her soul...

"You are the Empath; the one who can free this girl from her suffering."

How?

"Only you know. You are the Empath... and I am just..."

The voice began to fade away, and with it, the ball of light.

Wait! Who are you?

The ball flickered briefly for a moment.

"I am everything she never was, and I am everything she will be."

And then it was gone.

He closed his eyes, listening to the steady beating of his own heart. The droplets of water around him echoed it, each drop falling with the intensity of a thousand frost needles. He reached into himself, and from himself he reached into her.

If I am truly who they say I am, then grant me my power.

"And who are you to demand this of me?"

The voice startled him, but it was unmistakably himself.

I am whoever I choose to be; whatever the fates choose for me; and whenever the sands of time find me.

The voice seemed satisfied.

"And for what purpose?"

There were so many.

For the power to help others.  
For myself.  
For Yue.  
For...

For love.

And as he said it, he realized it was true. He felt the voice shudder as though it had finally realized something it had always wanted to.

"For the true power of an Empath... is one of his emotions.

"Take this power, and use it in the name of love."

He felt... (himself?) fade away as the other voice had before.

But now he had it.

He watched the tears falling around him, their sorrow all too real. He let his hands run through the water of her emotions. As they did, the water turned first red, then gold. Closing his eyes, he reached through the mist, absorbing the feelings of sorrow; of hate and anger. He felt his mind almost implode under the strain of emotions. Almost a decade worth of emotions concentrated into a single instant.

As he took the pain upon himself, he felt the tears begin to fall slower; now three of his heartbeats passed to a single tear.

But it wasn't over.

He reached into her memories, visiting an area he previously had never touched. Her memories of joy, of happiness and of love. Her childhood before her parents had died, her life under her Guardian, playing with her friends in the caves of Perion...

And her time with him.

His hands moved, but he watched them as though in a waking dream. He wasn't moving his hands himself anymore; he seemed to be doing everything by instinct, as though he had been doing it all his life.

My emotions... guide me...

He watched as her memories were weaved into a golden web of light, as the light spread over the sea of her own emotions...

He opened his eyes to her face in front of his. His fingers were wet with her tears, but as she looked up at him, she still managed to smile.

* * *

She hadn't felt so clearheaded for so long. Her burden of vengeance seemed to be fully lifted for the first time. 

_"Don't hurt anymore."_

"Wh... what did you do?"

He moved to remove his hands from her face, but, blinking back tears, she held them to her.

_I don't want to lose this feeling._

Wearily he smiled at her. She realized for the first time how tired he looked.

"How...?"

Gently he pushed her hands away and leant back against the opposite wall.

_"Don't worry... you won't feel the pain anymore... after all, if it returns..." _

I'll be there.

The promise they'd made to each other. The link which bound them. She knew, inexplicably, that he'd be there for her.

_And I'll be there for him._

She watched him as he sat, slumped against the wall. He looked as though he had gone through the world's troubles and only just survived.

Then again, he probably had.

Though the sorrow was gone from her heart, still she felt guilt and helplessness, but now only because she was unable to do anything for him, who had done so much for him.

_"You gave me yourself... as a friend."_

She started. Had he been listening? But his eyes were closed...

_"And that's more than anyone could ever have given me."_

She sat and watched him in silence. He could remove the sadness from her heart, give her hope and joy...

But he would never be able to escape himself.

Lost in thought, she didn't notice when he finally opened his eyes.

_"So... what are we going to do about this ship?"_

**A/N: Don't you love the fluffy bunnies. Don't shoot them!**

**Whatever it is, I'm not sure whether the transition is entirely natural, but hey; this is me from many months ago. Go figure.**


End file.
